THE SHADOWED SCROLLS

In my previous blog post, I reflected on The Jefferson Bible and how this particular founding father urged us to “separate the gold from the dross.” In other words, Jefferson cautioned against clinging to false notions such as biblical inerrancy — beliefs that have led, time and again, to damaging consequences and entrenching dogmas. If you haven’t read that one, go check it out: Separating the Gold from the Dross

To sharpen this point, let’s pause for a brief vocabulary lesson. You may not have come across this word before, as it isn’t often used: pseudepigrapha.

The term refers to “spurious or pseudonymous writings, especially Jewish texts ascribed to biblical patriarchs and prophets but composed within approximately 200 years of the birth of Jesus Christ.” The root word pseudonymous means “written under a false name.”

Why does this matter? Because the majority of scholars agree that several books of the New Testament fall into this category. Ephesians, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus are widely considered falsely attributed to Paul — composed not by the apostle himself, but by later authors writing in his name. Others, like Colossians and 2 Thessalonians, are debated but likewise suspected of pseudepigraphy.

How do we know this? Consider the evidence:

Reasons to doubt Pauline authorship of Ephesians

• The language and style differ markedly from Paul’s genuine letters. Ephesians introduces 40 new words (e.g., “heavenly places” in 1:3; “family/fatherhood” in 3:15), and in 1:19 alone, four different terms are used for “power.”

• Ephesians and Colossians employ a different term for “reconcile” than Paul typically used (Col. 1:20, 22; Eph. 2:16).

• Nearly half of Ephesians mirrors Colossians: 73 of its 155 verses resemble passages from Colossians (e.g., Eph. 4:1–2 ≈ Col. 3:12–13; Eph. 5:19–20 ≈ Col. 3:16–17; Eph. 6:21–22 ≈ Col. 4:7–8).

• Many key ideas appear lifted directly from Colossians: wisdom, mystery, “the word of truth,” “the gospel of salvation,” and “the saints of God.”

• Ephesians reads like a retrospective digest of Paul’s letters — a disciple summarizing and updating his teacher’s ideas for a later audience.

• Metaphors in Paul’s genuine letters become literalized in Ephesians (e.g., faith, gospel, word of God, reconciliation, salvation, resurrection, glorification, the Church as Christ’s Body, “Saints of God”).

• The Church is portrayed as a universal institution — something that did not exist in Paul’s time, when gatherings were smaller, local, and loosely connected.

• Charismatic gifts, common in Paul’s authentic writings, are absent.

• Jesus acts on his own authority without explicit mention of acting under God’s blessing — a departure from Paul’s usual emphasis.

Regarding the Pastoral Epistles (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus)

• They are absent from Marcion’s canon — the earliest known compilation of Christian scriptures — with no evidence Marcion had ever heard of them.

• Their vocabulary and phrasing diverge significantly from Paul’s letters.

• Over one-third of their vocabulary is unique to these epistles, with one-fifth appearing nowhere else in the New Testament. Strikingly, two-thirds of this non-Pauline vocabulary aligns with 2nd-century Christian writers.

Concerning Colossians

• Some argue it was written to refute Gnosticism — a movement that only gained traction in the early 2nd century, after Paul’s lifetime.

• Its style and grammar differ from Paul’s authentic works, including unusual genitive constructions.

• The epistle reflects a more advanced theological development than Paul’s other letters, prompting doubts about his authorship.

Concerning 2 Thessalonians

• Many verses parallel 1 Thessalonians almost word-for-word (e.g., 1 Thess. 2:9 ≈ 2 Thess. 3:8).

• It reflects familiarity with the Synoptic Gospels, which most scholars believe were not yet written during Paul’s ministry.

• It explicitly insists it is “not a forgery” — ironically, a common trope of forgeries of the time.

• Its eschatology (teachings about the end times) differs noticeably from 1 Thessalonians.

Concerning 1 & 2 Peter

• The letters’ language, structure, and dating cast serious doubt on Petrine authorship.

• The writer demonstrates advanced rhetorical training and fluency in Greek philosophy — unlikely traits for a Galilean fisherman.

• The letters omit personal details about the historical Jesus.

• They reference the Septuagint translation, which Peter likely would not have used.

• 2 Peter uses a different spelling of the name “Peter” than 1 Peter or any other New Testament text.

• There are major linguistic differences between 1 and 2 Peter.

• 2 Peter references the book of Jude.

• The epistles allude to 2nd-century Gnosticism.

• They address the problem of the delayed Second Coming.

• 2 Peter, in particular, enjoys the weakest external and scholarly support of any New Testament letter.

What do these findings leave us with? A call to humility. A reminder that sacred texts are not static monuments but living artifacts, layered with human hands and human intentions. To pretend otherwise — to cling to the notion of inerrancy — is to turn scripture into a prison rather than a guide.

The danger is not only that such dogmas harm the world, but that they also harm those who wield them. To assume one’s knowledge is complete is to refuse the gift of discovery, to turn away from the light of new evidence. True wisdom, as Jefferson knew, lies not in clutching every word as flawless, but in learning to sift the gold from the dross.

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References:

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/keithgiles/2019/03/sorry-christians-our-bible-contains-fake-letters-from-paul-and-peter/

https://ehrmanblog.org/2-thessalonians-as-a-forgery-does-the-author-write-like-paul/

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pseudepigraphon

SEPARATING THE GOLD FROM THE DROSS

Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Charlottesville, VA. Photo by JPP taken 12/2024.

“Say nothing of my religion. It is known to my God and myself alone. Its evidence before the world is to be sought in my life; if that has been honest and dutiful to society, the religion which has regulated it cannot be a bad one.”

— Thomas Jefferson

Window in the library at Monticello. Photo by JPP 12/2024.

Imagine for a moment, Thomas Jefferson sitting in the library of Monticello with a scalpel and a Bible. Page by page, he puts blade to paper as he cuts away the miracles, the prophecies, the thunder of divinity. What remains is a small, almost fragile book: a thread of teachings about love, forgiveness, humility, and mercy. He titled it The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, though today it is referred to as simply The Jefferson Bible. To Jefferson, this was not destruction but liberation—the careful work of separating the “gold” from the “dross.” 

The Jefferson Bible on display at The Smithsonian

Why would he do this? Because Jefferson never bowed to the notion of biblical inerrancy. He could not pretend that every word of scripture was flawless, dictated from heaven, untouchable by human error. He saw the Bible for what it is: a human record, stitched together across centuries, carrying both wisdom and weight, light and distortion. To claim perfection for it, Jefferson believed, was to sacrifice honesty on the altar of superstition.

And here is the heart of his reasoning—one that still startles when we imagine it in our own time. Let’s suppose for just a moment that Jesus had lived in more modern times and at the turn of the current century, in the year 2000, he is crucified: Just twenty-five years ago. As it stands now in the present year, not a single Gospel has yet to be written. The first won’t arrive until 2040. Others will follow decades later, not until 2050 or even 2070, long after eyewitnesses have vanished, after memories have softened, after stories have been retold so many times that fact and faith are braided together. Would anyone dare call those writings flawless? Would we expect perfection in accounts formed long after the moment had passed?

Yet this is the world in which the New Testament was born. Mark, the first Gospel, written forty years after the crucifixion. Matthew and Luke, drawing on what came before. John, last of all, written sixty to seventy years after the events it describes. Time had done its work, and human hands shaped the telling. Jefferson knew this. He refused to idolize the text while ignoring the truth of its making.

But Jefferson’s project was not cynicism. It was conviction. He believed faith belonged to the conscience of the individual, to that private space between a person and God. No priest, no church, no government had the right to dictate it. To compel belief was to hollow it out. Faith, to Jefferson, was real only when chosen, never when forced.

“It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself to resist invasions of it in the case of others, or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own. It behooves him, too, in his own case, to give no example of concession, betraying the right of independent opinion by answering questions of faith, which the laws have left between God and himself.”

— Thomas Jefferson

That clarity rings louder now than ever. In our own time, when scripture is wielded like a sword in the halls of politics, when religion is pressed into the machinery of power, Jefferson’s scalpel feels prophetic. He reminds us: truth does not tremble before scrutiny. Faith does not need compulsion. Sacred texts are not diminished by admitting their humanity—they are only made clearer, sharper, more honest.

Jefferson’s Bible was not an act of desecration. It was a declaration: that beneath the spectacle lies substance, beneath the dogma lies a moral vision strong enough to stand on its own. The gold remains, if we have the courage to cut away the dross.

photos from monticello by jpp 12/2024

THEORY OF CONSCIOUS AGENTS

For years, I’ve been fascinated by Dr. Donald Hoffman’s work — particularly his Theory of Conscious Agents. To me, it’s the closest and most compelling explanation of what reality might actually be. Still, since it was “just a theory,” I shelved it alongside other possibilities.

But then I watched his recent interview with Stephen Bartlett, where Hoffman explained how he’s been able to derive elements of space-time and quantum mechanics directly from his theory. That’s when my intrigue turned into excitement.

To appreciate this, let’s step back for a moment. For over a century, Einstein’s general relativity has given us an astonishingly reliable framework for understanding the universe at the macro scale. It powers GPS satellites, space exploration, and much more. But when we zoom into the ultra-microscopic realm — down to about 10^-33 centimeters — relativity collapses. That’s where quantum physics takes over, and things behave in strange, counterintuitive ways.

For decades, scientists have hunted for a “theory of everything” that unifies these two domains. String theory looked promising for a while, but progress has stalled. Meanwhile, materialism — the idea that consciousness is nothing more than brain activity — has dominated the conversation. But materialism hits its own walls, failing to account for subjective experience.

This is where Hoffman’s work breaks the mold. His theory flips materialism on its head: consciousness is not a byproduct of matter — matter is a byproduct of consciousness. In this view, what we call the “physical world” is just a thin user interface, a survival-friendly desktop designed to hide the overwhelming complexity of reality itself.

Think of your computer. You don’t interact with binary code directly; instead, you click icons on a screen. Hoffman argues that our perception of the world — the colors, sounds, objects — works the same way. Other creatures reveal this truth too: cats see spectrums we cannot, dogs navigate through smell, and humans sometimes glimpse beyond the interface through meditation or psychedelics. In short, reality is far richer than what our senses allow us to perceive.

Until now, both materialism and consciousness-based theories had the same flaw: neither could derive the nuts and bolts of physics from their first principles. A materialist can’t describe the exact pattern of neuron firings that produces the taste of chocolate. Similarly, a consciousness theorist couldn’t show how their framework generates space-time or photons. It was a stalemate.

But Hoffman may have just broken the deadlock. If he’s right — if space-time and quantum particles can emerge from conscious agents — this could revolutionize science. Not only could it unify relativity and quantum physics, but it might also shed light on mysteries long dismissed as fringe: psi phenomena, paranormal activity, and even time anomalies.

And the timing couldn’t be more interesting. As artificial intelligence races forward, we may be standing on the edge of an intellectual and technological explosion — one that blurs the line between science and spirituality, perception and reality.

If there’s ever been a theory worth watching and keeping up with, this is it.

OUT, OUT BRIEF CANDLE

In one of Shakespeare’s most haunting soliloquies, Macbeth responds to the crushing grief of Lady Macbeth’s death with words that have echoed through the centuries: “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow…” Here, he laments the relentless march of time — a slow, weary trudge that feels to him both hopeless and meaningless.

When he declares, “Out, out, brief candle!” Macbeth recognizes how fleeting human life truly is. Our days, like a candle’s flame, flicker briefly before vanishing into darkness. He deepens the metaphor by likening us to actors upon a stage: “struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.” The performance ends, the curtain falls, and silence swallows the noise.

This idea reverberates with Shakespeare’s As You Like It: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players…” — a reminder that each of us has entrances, exits, and roles to play across the span of a life.

Macbeth concludes with perhaps his bleakest vision: life as “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Though steeped in despair and colored by his mental state, this line captures a sobering truth. Life itself may not come prepackaged with meaning. Apart from the centrality of love, existence offers no built-in purpose — it is we who must create it.

Yet this is where hope emerges. When we root our lives in compassion and embrace the command to “love our neighbor,” we uncover a wellspring of meaning and connection that transcends explanation. It is precisely this love — fragile yet enduring — that redeems the futility Macbeth perceives, offering solace in grief and purpose in the face of life’s brevity.

WE ARE CREATURES OF LIGHT BOUND BY TIME

Einstein’s theory of relativity shows us that time isn’t fixed — it’s relative to the observer. What feels like “now” for you might be something very different for someone else on a cosmic scale. The faster you move through space, or the closer you are to a massive object, the more time bends and stretches.

This isn’t just theory. In a famous experiment, two atomic clocks — perfectly synced — were separated. One stayed on Earth while the other took a ride on a jet around the globe. When they were reunited, the flying clock was ahead by a few milliseconds. It had literally leapt ever so slightly into the future.

At our human scale, these differences are microscopic. But stretched across the universe? The consequences are mind-bending.

Here’s a thought experiment: Imagine you’ve got a telescope powerful enough to spy on an alien light-years away. If both you and the alien are perfectly still, you could say you’re sharing the same “now.” But the second you hop on a bicycle and pedal away from the alien, you’d no longer see its present. You’d be peering hundreds of years into its past.

Now flip it — pedal toward the alien instead. Suddenly, you’d be staring into its future by centuries. Let that sink in: just your small local motion, amplified across vast distances, changes what slice of reality you witness. And yes, the alien could do the exact same thing to us.

If past, present, and future can all be observed depending on motion and perspective… doesn’t that mean they all exist? This block universe would have another strange property in that not only would the past affect the future, but the notion of retrocausality (the future influencing the past) would have an equal persuasion.

And if that’s not enough to scramble your brain, consider this: photons — the smallest packets of light — don’t experience time at all. The starlight you see tonight left its galaxy millions of years ago. But for the photon, the instant it was born in the heart of that star is the same instant it lands on your eye. To light itself, the journey took no time at all.

So here we are: beings ruled by something that may not even exist in the way we imagine. We experience time as a steady flow, moment to moment — but in truth, it bends, it stretches, and it vanishes depending on perspective.

We move in three dimensions — forward/backward, left/right, up/down. Add just one more — time — and you’d become a four-dimensional traveler, free to wander history and leap into the future the way we take a road trip to the beach.

If your mind hasn’t melted yet, let’s go one step further: what if time, like space, is not a straight line at all… but a circle? Maybe we incarnate and inhabit a circular universe with no beginning or ending, thereby technically making it infinite. Like a ferris wheel, we eventually come back around to the same moments time and again but over very large time scales.

Given enough time, anything that can happen, will inevitably happen.

THE OBSERVATORY

One of the highlights of my recent trip out west was visiting the Lowell Observatory and peering at a star cluster through the same telescope used by Percival Lowell when studying Mars and later Pluto and the Moon. From the Observatory:

History of the 24-inch Clark Refractor

The Clark Refractor is one of the most storied telescopes in the world, an important piece of scientific, cultural, and American history.   Percival Lowell famously used it in his controversial studies of Mars, research that Lowell openly shared with the general public as well as the scientific community. While scientists took opposing views of Lowell’s theories of intelligent life on Mars, the public devoured his ideas. Lowell soon built a cultural consciousness of Martian life, so that to many people, such extraterrestrial intelligence was a foregone conclusion. This idea found its way into the minds of writers, where the developing genre of science fiction incorporated some of Lowell’s ideas.

Progressive research with the Clark continued into the 1960s, when scientists and artists combined their talents to create detailed maps of the Moon. These were critical to understanding the physical characteristics of the lunar surface and were used in support of the Apollo astronauts’ journeys to the Moon. Not only that, but as part of their training, several of the moonwalkers peered through the Clark to familiarize themselves with craters and other lunar features.

The exploration of Mars, the Moon, and the expanding universe is just part of the Clark’s story. It also played an important role in building public awareness and excitement about space, from the casual, walk-in visitor to educational programming by the likes of Walt Disney, Carl Sagan, and Bill Nye the Science Guy.

ALL THE PHOTOS TAKEN AT THE LOWELL OBSERVATORY

THE PYRAMID SCHEME

In my early to mid-twenties, like many people that age, I thought I had life pretty well figured out. I believed I knew everything I needed to know. Around that time, a charismatic young woman with whom I worked — someone who became a good friend — began telling me about a business she was involved in that was supposedly bringing her wealth and opportunity.

Despite our camaraderie, I felt a twinge of skepticism. Still, a small part of me was curious. That little sliver of “what if?” lured me in. She invited me to attend a meeting the following week so I could see for myself what this business could do for my life.

Prior to attending this meeting, I went to visit my grandmother — one of the most precious people in my life. (What I wouldn’t give for just one more of those conversations!) I told her about this friend and the exciting opportunity I was exploring. That’s when she gently, but firmly, burst my hopeful bubble. She reminded me of a phrase I had heard before but never fully grasped until that day: a pyramid scheme. She gave me a surface-level explanation of what it meant, and although I tried to save face by brushing it off — insisting it couldn’t possibly be that — deep down, I knew she was right. I did not want to think that someone who had become a good friend would use me in such a way.

I still went to the meeting, but this time I went armed with awareness. And because of that, I avoided wasting time, energy, and money on something that was never what it claimed to be.

Years later, I can’t help but notice striking similarities between that kind of scam and many aspects of modern life. At their core, pyramid schemes reward early adopters while sustaining themselves through the constant recruitment of new believers. The few at the top reap immense benefits, while the many at the bottom work tirelessly for scraps — all under the illusion that they’re building a better future.

These schemes often celebrate the success of the early investors, touting their product or belief system as “the best way to live” — promising a future reward just around the corner. But that corner never comes. Instead, people are encouraged to keep the faith while deflecting blame outward and fighting amongst themselves rather than examining the structure they’re helping to uphold.

Some of us, whether through intuition or after encountering painful truths, eventually break out of these patterns. But many don’t. Some are too financially or emotionally invested to walk away. Others are so afraid of being wrong that they double down — preferring the comfort of the familiar lie to the discomfort of the unfamiliar truth.

So, in case you’re wondering if I’m referring to the institution or ideology you’re currently committed to — yes, I am. Whichever one you support so fervently that you breeze past every red flag because you’re convinced it’s leading you somewhere special… that’s the one. The group makes you feel like you belong, like you’re “in the know.” And because your friends and loved ones are part of it too, how could it possibly be wrong?

Despite choosing not to join the business my friend pitched to me, she continued to try to recruit me. I didn’t end our friendship over it, and honestly, I didn’t feel confident enough back then to challenge her worldview. I doubt she would have listened anyway. She had a gift for making others feel inspired and hopeful — conjuring vivid visions of a better future that felt just within reach. My choice to walk away began with my grandmother’s concern and willingness to speak an uncomfortable truth. Her love gave me clarity — the kind of clarity I might have ignored had it come from anywhere else.

I see now that many of today’s problems stem from this same psychological pattern. We spend so much time defending our beliefs, trying to convert others, and assuring ourselves we’re on the right path that we rarely stop to question the foundation beneath us. We become so certain that we’re on the side of good that we overlook — or excuse — atrocities committed in our name. The phrase “lesser of two evils” becomes a justification for accepting reprehensible actions, as long as they come from our side.

But here’s the real tragedy: while we’re busy arguing, shaming, and defending our “in-group,” we rarely look up. Because yes — there are winners in every pyramid scheme. There are people at the top whose lifestyles are funded by the cycles of violence, division, and distraction below. As long as we stay busy fighting each other, we never bother to peek behind the curtain.

Absolutism and certainty are often just the ego’s armor. But living from the ego disconnects us from reality and authenticity. If we truly want to grow, we need to normalize being wrong. Admitting we’ve been misled or mistaken doesn’t weaken our character — it strengthens it. Paradoxically, those who can acknowledge when they’ve been fooled are often the most trustworthy. In contrast, those who cling to damaging ideologies to preserve their status within a group may remain popular, but lack true integrity.

So maybe it’s time we ask ourselves a few uncomfortable but necessary questions:

• Who is ultimately benefiting from my unwavering allegiance to this belief system or institution?

• Why do I feel compelled to defend it so passionately — or to recruit others into it?

• Am I overlooking harm caused to others simply because it aligns with my chosen side?

• And perhaps most importantly: If everyone were to stop resisting and fully embrace what my group is promoting, what would that world actually look like? Would it be a utopia? If so, are we seeing any evidence of that utopia within the group now?

If the promised future involves the oppression and suffering of any other people or groups — maybe it’s not a future worth pursuing. If the costs keep mounting, maybe it’s time to stop climbing the pyramid and start dismantling it. Maybe the true path to meaning isn’t found in certainty, conformity, or consensus… but in humility, curiosity, and the courage to step off the well-trodden road — even when everyone else is still marching ahead.

We are living in a time where underlying motivations are becoming less nuanced and more obvious. It is a time where those who are self-reflective can begin to fully recognize the cost of being part of a particular group and decide that the individual discomfort of breaking away from their community is worth the risk compared to the hypocrisy and participating in the continued marginalization and oppression of others by the group. The past few years, especially, have presented us all with a litmus test. And the failure of so many reveals the underlying motivations that keep them defending the group.

The truth might not come wrapped in excitement or sold with a smile, but it’s the only thing that can set us free.

THE GATEWAY TO THE UNKNOWN

Active areas of reported Lunar Transient Phenomena

For all of the talk of conspiracies and speculations, it’s hard these days to ascertain what actually has any merit or is just a good story. But there are a couple of topics of which I am fully convinced that there is more to than what we are told in the public domain. One is our ancient history, as Graham Hancock perfectly describes us as “a species with amnesia” and more than that there seems to be a strange and unexplainable active suppression of any solid evidence (of which there is a plethora of) that contradicts the mainstream narrative. The other topic that I am convinced that there is more to is the Moon.

It’s been a long known fact that anyone who works in the medical field can predict an increase in patient intake solely based on lunar cycles, particularly whenever its a full Moon. In fact, the term “lunatic” comes from this very phenomenon! Yet for all of our modern science and technology there is not really any solid consensus as to the mechanism behind this occurrence. Aside from this well known fact about the Moon, its just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to strange things surrounding Earth’s satellite.

Despite being a space fanatic my whole life, the anomalies of the Moon is something I never gave any thought of up until a few years ago when I began to research the calendar. You can check out my previous blog post, “Mysteries of the Moon” where I discuss that more in detail, but here’s a snippet: The numbers eight, nine, and ten in latin are: octo, novem, and decem. So why are the months of October, November, and December the tenth, eleventh and twelfth months of the year - shouldn’t they be eight, nine, and ten?

As I looked a bit deeper into known Moon facts, I became fully convinced that there is absolutely something strange about our Moon. Anyone who spends any amount of time researching the oddities of our Moon must either ignore these anomalies, waving them off as coincidence or realize that when so many “coincidences” are taken as a whole we have to ask deeper questions, no matter how uncomfortable those answers may be to learn.

Telescopic photograph, fully verified by Columbia University, taken in 1953 of a bright flash of light on the surface of the moon; one of hundreds of reported sightings of Transient Lunar Phenomena.

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summary of the strangeness

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Rare Earth materials are found in abundance on the moon, as well as several elements that are not found naturally on Earth but are the products of human intervened production.

The next full moon, go out and just look at the moon through binoculars and you can see the odd craters. Which at first glance don’t seem odd to us because we’ve looked at the moon our whole lives. But you have to admit the wide craters all with shallow depths is odd.

NASA openly describes the fact that the Moon “rang like a bell” for hours when conducting seismometer experiments on its surface. You can find this information on the NASA website.

Something else that I never considered due to familiarity is just how precise the size and distance correlations are between the Earth and the Moon. We don’t find this precision anywhere else in the solar system and to date, we have not seen it on any discovered exoplanets.

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THE EFFECTS ON THE ASTRONAUTS

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The interviews with the Apollo 11 crew after they returned from the moon. The mood is somber, not what you might expect from the first man to walk on the moon. Maybe they were exhausted or nervous being on camera perhaps?

However, here is Neil Armstrong on the 25th anniversary of the moon landing giving a speech to a group of young people telling of great revelations to be found by “those who can remove one of truth’s protective layers”. This is a strange statement to make and also a rare moment when he looks up from his written speech for this comment. What is this referencing?

There’s a lot to consider here. As always, I’m just sharing information that I find fascinating but that also seems to have enough merit to be taken seriously. Until more information is seriously studied and released, any conclusions we try to reach will be speculation. But solely based on the observables about the moon that we know to be true, one has to concede that the moon cannot be described in any way close to what we have been taught. Here’s a few profound statements from credentialed experts in their field:

• NASA scientist, Dr. Robin Brett, is quoted as saying, “It seems much easier to explain the nonexistence of the moon than its existence.”

• Irwin Shapiro of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics stated, “the best possible explanation for the Moon is observational error - the moon doesn’t exist.” He also said, “The Moon is bigger than it should be, apparently older than it should be and much lighter in mass than it should be. It occupies an unlikely orbit and is so extraordinary that all existing explanations for its presence are fraught with difficulties and none of them could be considered watertight.”

• Famous science fiction author as well as biochemist, Isaac Asimov, called the moon, with its lack of atmosphere but a magnetic field, “basically a freak of nature.”

• Isaac Asimov also stated, “There is no astronomical reason why Moon and Sun should fit so well… only Earth among all the planets is blessed in this fashion.”

• Dr. Gordon MacDonald, NASA Astronaut who pointed out, “It would seem that the moon is more like a hollow than a homogenous sphere.”

• Carl Sagan pointed out that, “A Natural satellite cannot be a hollow object.”

• Dr. D.L. Anderson, Professor of geophysics and director of the seismological laboratory at the California Institute of Technology stated, “The Moon is made inside out and that its inner and outer compositions should be the other way around.”

• Dr. S. Ross Taylor, Geochemist of Lunar Chemical Analysis said, “the problem was that Maria Plains the size of Texas had to be covered with melted rock containing fluid titanium. You would not expect titanium ever to be hot enough to do that, even on Earth, and no one has ever suggested that the Moon was hotter than the Earth. What could distribute titanium in this way?Only a highly advanced technology developed by someone or something that is immensely more technologically advanced than modern humans.”

• Farouk El Baz of NASA: “Water vapour coming from the Moon’s interior is serious. It means that there is a drastic distinction between the different phases of the lunar interior that the interior is quite different from what we have seen on the surface.”

• Lon Hood of the University of Arizona, “We knew the Moon’s core was small, but we didn’t know it was this small. This really does add weight to the idea that the Moon’s origin is unique, unlike any other terrestrial body.”

• Ken Johnson, Supervisor of the Data and Photo Control Department during the Apollo missions said, regarding the seismometer tests, “The Moon not only rang like a bell, but the whole Moon wobbled in such a precise way that it was almost as though it had gigantic hydraulic damper struts inside it.” He is also quoted as saying, “Moon rocks have been found to contain processed metals, including brass and mica, and the elements H3, Uranium 236, and Neptunium 237 that have never been found to occur naturally.”

• Dr. Sean C. Solomon, MIT and Columbia University: “The Lunar Orbiter experiments… improving knowledge of the Moon’s gravitational field… indicated the frightening possibility that the Moon might be hollow.”

• Maurice Ewing, geophysicist, “As for the meaning of it… it is as though someone had struck a bell…and found that the reverberation… continued for 30 minutes.”

• And of course the quote from Neil Armstrong mentioned above on the 25th anniversary of the Moon landings encouraged young people that great revelations are still to be found by “those who can remove one of truth’s protective layers”.

Personally, and this is purely speculative and based solely on my own intuition, but I feel as though the gaps in our understanding about the Moon are somehow related to the gaps in our understanding of our ancient past. I think that something incredible lies in these mysteries. Maybe its disturbing or maybe its miraculous, but either way the truth is preferred over a “noble lie” for me. We cannot move forward until we confront the truth, regardless of what it is.

Or maybe I’m completely wrong and am thinking too much into nothing. What do you think?

THE SUPERCOLLIDER THAT ALMOST WAS

TEXAS’ CLOSE ATTEMPT AT A PARTICLE PHYSICS REVOLUTION

Tunnel construction under North Texas in 1991

In 2012, scientists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva, Switzerland confirmed the existence of the elusive Higgs Boson—sometimes nicknamed “the God Particle.” First theorized in 1964, this subatomic particle is essential to our understanding of how other particles acquire mass. The discovery earned Peter Higgs and François Englert the Nobel Prize in Physics and cemented the LHC as a major milestone in scientific achievement.

But few people realize just how close we were to making that discovery not in Europe, but right here in North Texas.

How a Particle Collider works - the LHC at CERN

Back in the early 1980s, during the Reagan administration, plans were proposed for a groundbreaking particle accelerator called the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), also colloquially known as the "Desertron." The site chosen? The limestone bedrock near Waxahachie, Texas—just south of Dallas. The completed ring would have crossed under the Texas cities of Waxahachie, Bardwell, Ennis, Garrett, Palmer, Red Oak, and others.

Construction began in 1991, and by 1993, 14 miles of the planned 54-mile underground tunnel had already been bored. Once completed, the SSC would have dwarfed the LHC in both size and power, making it the largest and most energetic particle collider ever built. It was expected to attract top physicists from around the world, boost the Texas economy, and place the U.S. at the forefront of particle physics research for decades.

But it wasn’t to be.

Map from the early 1990’s showing the proposed placement of the ring of the SSC.

Facing ballooning costs (estimated at over $10 billion), political disagreements, and the looming shadow of a recession, Congress canceled funding for the project in 1993. The tunnels, though partially completed, were left to flood and have since been sealed. The main campus sat abandoned for years before being repurposed by various industries. Today, it houses a chemical manufacturing company.

Interestingly, the SSC site sits just minutes from where I live now. Naturally, I had to go check it out. Below is a short video from my recent drive-by, including footage and a revisited report from WFAA in Dallas.

To me, this is one of the most fascinating “what if” stories in modern science. Had things gone differently, Texas could’ve become the new global hub for cutting-edge research. The project would have drawn international tourism, boosted local education initiatives, and perhaps even fast-tracked the discovery of other fundamental particles.

In fact, many physicists today are still lobbying for a larger collider to be built near the LHC, precisely because a more powerful accelerator is needed to probe deeper into the unknown. The SSC, had it been completed, would have offered those capabilities decades ago.

Despite this missed opportunity, the surrounding area has continued to grow. In fact, Ellis County is now one of the fastest-growing regions in the country. And who knows—if you're inclined to entertain the weirder side of things, perhaps in some parallel reality where the SSC was completed, we’re already dealing with time slips and strange phenomena leaking from the collider. Watch the video below for some theorized possibilities posed by some in the scientific community.

Native American culture was and still is a culture that is very much in sync with nature. They believe that the land is its own kind of entity and that it holds memory. Given the momentum the project had, personnel in place, miles of tunnels bored, publicity of the project, excitement in the area, all of that energy moving in one particular trajectory - what if it had ripples of effect that are unknown to us?

And that segues perfectly into my next creative project, which centers around this very topic. It’s still in the early works but I’m excited at the prospects for this one. See below, but more on that soon...

COLLISION SYNOPSIS

45-year-old Gemma Knox knew from an early age just how she wanted her life to turn out, following in the footsteps of her dad as a physicist.  But when tragedy strikes and she loses her dad and older brother, it dramatically alters the trajectory of her life.  Now, years later she is experiencing strange phenomena, time slips, false memories, cryptic messages left by a stranger, and the weirdest of all: a visit from her long deceased brother in a public place in broad daylight.  Desperate to get to the bottom of what is going on, she participates in a hypnotherapy session with her psychologist.  But instead of revisiting distant memories, she finds herself in the middle of a sterile lab setting. She notices a clue about this place before coming back from the hypnosis and immediately knows where to go. Once she’s standing in the right location, her surroundings suddenly change. She is frozen in place, unable to process who is standing right in front of her: her own self.  Her double speaks, “You made it, I knew you’d figure it out.”

A fictional story based on actual hypothetical science; Collision will stretch your belief in what you thought was possible.  Currently in pre-production.

ADDITIONAL IMAGES FROM THE U.S. DEPT. OF ENERGY

THE PSYCHONAUTS

Have you ever thought about someone—randomly—and then they call you? Or felt a sudden wave of emotion, only to find out a loved one was going through something miles away? We often chalk it up to mere coincidence. But what if it isn’t just coincidence? What if there’s something far more mysterious at play—something woven deep into the fabric of reality?

The hit Netflix show, Stranger Things’ final season releases this year. The show is based on supposedly real accounts of people who were involved in a secret government program in the northeast United States back in the 1980’s. I took such stories with a grain of salt - until I began to learn other verifiable truths that paralleled with these accounts from the New York area. So let’s dive into these strange stories.

“Coincidence and intention are two sides of a tapestry, my lord. You may find one more agreeable to look at, but you cannot say that one is true and the other is false.”

— Ted Chiang, The Merchant and The Alchemists Gate

A fair warning to all who continue reading, depending on your openness to evidence that challenges your worldview, some of what follows may be difficult to accept. I’ve included references so you can decide for yourself what, how, or if to integrate it into your understanding of reality. Personally I have found there is ample evidence (which I have referenced) in the public domain that leads to its credibility.  But you will have to decide for yourself.  If a certain area is bordering on conjecture due to thin evidence, but is included due to substantial circumstantial evidence, I will point it out.  In any case, one should always seek out the truth themselves - I am simply sharing knowledge and I will provide reference sources that I encourage anyone to check out for themselves..

The Psychic Cold War You Knew Nothing About

In 1975, a declassified study from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency revealed a startling concern: the Soviets were investing heavily in psychic research. They were conducting controlled experiments in telepathy, psychokinesis, and even attempting mind-control technologies. The U.S., not wanting to fall behind in what some called the “Psychic Arms Race,” launched their own investigations—quietly, and with plausible deniability.

This led to a top secret CIA program originally referred to as Project Grill Flame, SUNSTREAK, SCANATE, until later consolidated and renamed Project Stargate. Stargate was a black-budget program operated out of the Stanford Research Institute (SRI), involving notable figures like physicists Russell Targ and Hal Puthoff (whose name you will hear again popping up later in this post in a seemingly distinct and separate area of study, which adds to the notion of these phenomena having some sort of connectedness). Using highly skilled individuals trained to perceive distant locations psychically, known as Remote Viewers, military and intelligence personnel were successfully able to locate hostages, downed aircraft, and more.

One of the more notable figures that came out of Project Stargate, is a man known as “Remote Viewer #1”, Joe McMoneagle. Joe McMoneagle is known as the best Operational Remote Viewer in the history of the U.S. Army's Special Project. He was the only Remote Viewer who worked one-on-one with the out-of-body pioneer Robert Monroe, and who has achieved intelligence collection results among the very best. His notable achievements include:

• He described the interior of a top secret Soviet manufacturing plant and accurately predicted a new class of ship under construction--the previously unknown Typhoon Class submarine.

• He sketched the location and described the thoughts and reactions of an American kidnap victim held by the Red Brigade in Northern Italy--U.S. Army General Dozier.

• He accurately predicted when Skylab would leave orbit and where it would impact on the Earth's surface--eleven months prior to the actual event.

• After conventional reconnaissance failed, he and others were able to locate a downed Soviet bomber that had been carrying nuclear materials.

He achieved these results using scientifically designed and tested double-blind protocols. And in the years since his retirement he has continued to demonstrate these abilities to the public. In 1984, during his years with Project Stargate, he was tasked with remote viewing Mars in the ancient past: 1 million BCE. The transcript is linked below, it’s is a very interesting read and what’s even more astonishing is that the government would conduct a mission within a top secret, multi-million dollar project by remote viewing another planet that as far as we know never hosted any form of intelligent life.

Now you may have heard of the structures on Mars visible from above, as people have studied the photos sent back from probe and rover missions. Such as the iconic “face on mars”. These are very intriguing but they can be ruled out by a phenomenon known as pareidolia, where the human mind has the tendency to organize randomness and see things that aren’t really there. What can’t be explained, however, is the high levels of an element known as Xenon 114. To date, there are only two ways we’ve been able to detect this element: one is as a result of a supernova explosion and the other is from the detonation of a nuclear weapon. This isotope of Xenon just doesn’t occur any other way. And Mars is definitely not a supernova. In fact, here on earth we monitor the air for traces of this element in certain regions in order to verify if other countries are testing nuclear weapons in secret.

If you’re thinking that all of this sounds like science fiction, take a moment to dig into the CIA’s own website. Over 12 million pages of declassified documents reveal years of funding and training in psychic methodologies.  The references to these declassified documents are linked below.

“Hell is empty, and all the devils are here.”

-William Shakespeare, The Tempest

MK-Ultra and the Manipulation of Mind

Long before Stranger Things introduced us to Eleven and the mysterious Hawkins Lab, there was MK-Ultra, a real CIA program designed to investigate how human consciousness could be altered—or controlled—through drugs, hypnosis, and sensory deprivation. While most associate MK-Ultra with mind control experiments, some branches of the program delved into extrasensory perception (ESP) and telepathic suggestion.

It wasn’t about proving whether psychic abilities were real—this had already been established.  It was about whether they could be weaponized.

It’s within this particular secret program that lie tales of a very dark and nefarious nature.  I’ll preface this part of the story by stating that the only corroborating evidence is the word of the individuals involved at the time, so take from it what you will.  There is an excellent documentary titled, “The Montauk Chronicles” which I highly recommend as it reveals much of this eyewitness testimony, though a fair warning, it gets very bizarre.

There is some consensus among experts that trauma, especially trauma experienced by children, activates or expands the ability to perceive things that most of us cannot.  I suppose it has something to do with dissociation, being shocked or repulsed with situations one is exposed to, that allows them to see into other realms as a reprieve from their reality.  Not all, but many psychics and mediums have histories of troubled childhoods.  This is the sad preface to the stories of Montauk.  The claim is that untold numbers of young people, mostly those who are homeless, runaways, or with abusive caretakers, (and as a result it could be assumed they would not be missed by society) were abducted and brought to a secret military base in Montauk, NY.  Here they were abusively and repeatedly exposed to nightmare scenarios in order to induce trauma within them.  The goal was to manufacture this psychical ability so that it could be harnessed and exploited.  I won’t go into the details here - you can check it out for yourself - but if it’s true, then it’s probably the most repulsive and shameful act of our government to date.

Though the ends definitely do not justify the means in this scenario, the experiments were allegedly successful.  There are tales of astral projecting beyond the bounds of time, physical manifestation of thoughts, and coordination with non-human intelligence that was sharing unbelievable technologies.  It was, however, the very phenomenon they had created that then turned on them in a very strange tale that abruptly ended the research and shut down the facility which remains off limits and vacant to this day.

There are some who have come forward indicating this type of human trafficking is still occurring. US Marine, Michael Herrera recently came forward to give his account of an encounter with an unmarked military in all black and no visible affiliation with any particular country while he was serving in Western Indonesia. The men he was with were outnumbered by this mystery army and were being held at gunpoint while he stated that they were bringing local citizens, including children, by bus and loading them onto a craft against their will. Later he was informed that these individuals were being used for their apparent psychic abilities. Again this is a witness testimony, but it is important to note that members of the military, and especially the Marines, have a high degree of personal responsibility and have to clear many psychological exams in order to receive their clearances. It would be an extremely reckless thing to come forward with a false story that would only bring ridicule and loss to the individual’s life. It would only make sense to come forward if there was a strong compulsion to share such an encounter if it was of vital importance or to call out government abuses.

“You don’t get the kind of gifts that I have if you lie.”

-Houston from The Telepathy Tapes

The Telepathy Tapes – A Powerfully Positive Confirming Work

If there’s one resource I’d urge you to explore, it’s this. In fact, if you haven’t already listened to this series please stop reading and go do that now!  While I was already beginning to grasp the reality of psy phenomena, this series confirmed it with me beyond a shadow of a doubt.  If you haven’t yet heard of it, The Telepathy Tapes is a documentary series centering on the connection between non-verbal autistic children and telepathic abilities.  The claims are astounding:  ALL, not some, but every non-verbal autistic child has the gift of telepathy, full stop!  Thorough tests were setup and conducted in ways that would be accepted and recognized by any scientific organization and in test after test of their skill, the accuracy is nearly perfect every time.  If a child does give an incorrect answer, it’s usually an error of misunderstanding and every time they get it correct on the second try.  That alone is paradigm shattering!  But the telepathy is just the tip of the iceberg.

The children all keep referencing a meeting place in a non-physical realm, identified simply as "The Hill," and described as a sort of town square or meeting place where these children can meet up and talk to one another, learn from one another, and communicate with each other despite physically being miles, states, even nations apart!  Some kids have best friends whom they met on “the hill” but whom they’ve never met in their physical body.  The evidence is in the wealth of knowledge they have about this other individual which could not be ascertained by any other means. This aspect of the phenomena correlates and appears to give some insight into the means by which savant skills may be acquired.

The gift of telepathy is something we are all born with, even animals actively possess this skill.  The reason the majority of us don’t seem to understand it is due to us learning spoken and written communication skills.  It allows us to express ourselves in a physical manner.  The thought process is that we are born telepathic, but the children who are non-verbal, understanding that there is a deep desire within all of us to communicate, retain this skill and it never leaves them.

The best part of these stories are these children who despite being ridiculed, mocked, told they are “stupid” or “not all there”, they all express such deep unconditional love for others that is so moving.  The kids emphasize that it’s through love, transparency, and positive intentions that these skills are allowed to perpetuate.  One of the quotes I’ll never forget from one of these kids is him explaining to his mom, “mama, you don’t get the kinds of gift that I do if you lie,”  It’s made abundantly clear after finishing this series that there’s no doubt about all - telepathy is real.  And once you accept that, the door flies wide open to many other wonders waiting to be explored in the realm of psy abilities.   

It turns out that we’ve never been alone.

In recent years, the U.S. government has taken a more transparent stance regarding Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs). Through the brave efforts of individuals such as Lou Elizando who blew the whistle and released information on the topic, along with the 2021 ODNI Preliminary Assessment and subsequent congressional hearings, including testimony from decorated figures such as David Grusch, Ryan Graves, and Commander David Fravor, we now have not just sightings but sworn statements about non-human craft and retrieved “biologics.” Even legislation has been proposed demanding disclosure of hidden UAP programs and technologies, which will be referenced below for a mind-blowing read through.

One name that keeps surfacing in these discussions is Hal Puthoff, the same physicist who worked on Project Stargate and later became a key figure in the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP). His involvement across both psychic research and UAP study suggests a deeper link between consciousness and these unexplained aerial phenomena.

What many overlook in these encounters is the consistent presence of telepathic elements. Contactees frequently describe receiving sudden “downloads” of information, experiencing shared visions, or communicating with entities without words. These phenomena are not fringe outliers—they are documented patterns. From Whitley Strieber’s Communion to Ingo Swann’s psychic journey to the Moon (documented in Penetration), telepathic contact seems to be the preferred method for these intelligences. There have even been numerous statements of the craft being controlled solely by mental telekinesis.

Are these beings using a technology we don’t understand? Or are they interfacing with us through the same latent psychic abilities we’re just beginning to rediscover?

There is also an incredible connection between this phenomenon and the history of religion. Diane Pasulka, a professor of religious studies and author of the book, “American Cosmic” was allowed access to parts of the Vatican archives during the time she was studying the history of encounters with angels and demons from the Bible. It became clear to her that there was a direct correlation with accounts of human interactions with angelic (or sometimes demonic) entities depicted in the Bible and the modern accounts of interactions with UAP and non-human intelligent beings. A classic example is with the Stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi. If this encounter happened today, it would be a case of radiation burns. Her work is extremely interesting and thought provoking.

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”

-Albert Einstein

Simulation Theory, The Holographic Universe & Consciousness as the Core

Imagine reality not as a solid, objective landscape, but as a kind of interactive simulation—where consciousness is not the product of the brain, but the medium through which all experience is rendered.

Many well-known and respected physicists have been discussing Simulation theory as a serious and plausible explanation for the world around us. Our conditioned minds, having been educated our whole lives in a materialist worldview, have trouble accepting such a hypothesis but it would appear that the science is revealing that consciousness is not an emergent property of the physical world, but the other way around: consciousness is fundamental and the building blocks upon which physical reality is structured. Indeed, many problems presented by classical physics are resolved when viewed from this perspective.

A notable figure in this area of study is Donald Hoffman, a cognitive psychologist, and author of the book, “The Case Against Reality”. To help grasp the concept, he suggests thinking of it in terms of your computer. For example, right now I am typing this out on my computer, which is a user interface produced by the computer that gives it meaning and order. At the core of my computer, however, is simply a series of switches, on and off, one or zero, yes or no commands. Now, technically I could produce this written work by manually toggling these binary switches if I knew how to do so, but this would be cumbersome and it would lose the value or the meaning of what it is I was trying to produce. It’s only through the user interface (i.e., the windows program, the internet browser, the keyboard, the screen) which are all made up from this binary coding that provide any real meaningful use. Hoffman asserts that we have evolved to NOT see reality as it actually is because we have, over time, shed the aspects of ourselves that observe and navigate the world around us that were not useful in survival. There is no value in observing the binary switches, only in operating the user interface do we derive useful meaning. The binary code is there still, but we have evolved technologically to not needing access to that base level, thereby expanding our technological possibilities in a useful way. So likewise, he suggests, reality is merely the user interface or our personal headset from which we navigate the world around us. There exists a base “program” running, but we do not see it because it does not benefit us from an evolutionary standpoint.

You might be surprised to learn that the inventor of the microprocessor and touch screen, an Italian-American physicist named Frederico Faggin, has theories that parallel this line of thinking. Like most in his field, he was a strict materialist for years of his life. Until an experience beyond explanation instantly flipped his worldview on its head. He now devotes his time and attention to educating others on the deep connections between quantum physics and consciousness. He states, “Consciousness is the capacity of one to know itself. And it is in this concept of one wanting to know itself that there is a joining of physics and spirituality.” In his book, Irreducible, “he elaborates on an idealist model of reality, produced after years of careful thought and direct experience, according to which nature's most fundamental level is that of consciousness as a quantum phenomenon, while the classical physical world consists merely of evocative symbols of a deeper reality.”

The Holographic Universe Theory, championed by David Bohm and expanded by Michael Talbot, suggests that each part of the universe contains the whole—just like a hologram. This idea also dovetails with Simulation Theory, as advanced by figures like Nick Bostrom and referenced by public thinkers including Elon Musk, who posits there's a high probability we are living in a simulated reality. As Elon Musk has been known for saying, “If you assume any rate of improvement at all, games will eventually be indistinguishable from reality,” Musk said before concluding, “We’re most likely in a simulation.” There is a much higher likelihood that we are not living in base reality.

Honestly, the mind-bending implications that have been proposed recently deserve its own post, which I will cover more thoroughly in the future. But this proposed explanation of our reality also has many correlations with ancient mythologies and unexplainable archaeological artifacts. To be honest, while some of these correlations seem to click into place and fit perfectly into these modern discoveries, I will admit that they are extremely bizarre and if true, could create an existential crisis with many. So I will leave it at that for now and revisit this topic at a later time.

Under either framework, telepathy ceases to be paranormal and becomes instead a function of non-local consciousness. Much like quantum entanglement shows particles can remain instantaneously connected across vast distances, human minds might be similarly entangled—able to share information outside the bounds of time and space.

These theories are no longer relegated to the realm of science fiction. Physicists, neuroscientists, and philosophers alike are now exploring the possibility that reality itself is consciousness-based.

“The act of observation is an act of fact creation.”

-Christopher Fuchs, Quantum Physicist

Abracadabra (Hebrew origin ‘abreg ad hābreg’), meaning, “I create as I speak”

The Scientific Edge – Experiments That Defy Skepticism

Despite the fringe label slapped on parapsychology, a number of researchers have brought scientific rigor to the table. Dean Radin, Chief Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, has spent decades compiling statistical data showing significant, repeatable psychic effects across a variety of experiments. His book "Real Magic" posits that the so-called paranormal may simply be a set of natural laws we don’t yet understand.  I’ve read his books and they are a fascinating read.   

The connections between psychic phenomena and quantum physics become quite strong in this area. Understanding concepts such as quantum entanglement, or “spooky action at a distance” as Einstein referred to it, as well as the observation paradox of the double-slit experiment, leads one naturally to consider how consciousness may be the key to understanding these fascinating, but confounding concepts. Check out my post, “As Above, So Below” where I go into more detail on the double slit experiment and the incredible implications that arise from it.

Among the most famous parapsychology studies is the Ganzfeld Experiment, which isolates a subject in a state of sensory deprivation to determine if they can receive mental images “sent” by another person. Repeated studies have shown results far beyond chance expectation.

I plan to personally conduct a Ganzfeld experiment assuming playing both sender and receiver across several trials. I’ll be reporting my full findings in a future post—but the feedback from those who have participated in these experiments report some amazing things. Here I will advise that the following is intriguing and worth mentioning, but that also lacks any scientific study but a man by the name of Danny Goler reported that during controlled DMT experiences, observing the light beam projected onto a wall or other surface, reveals an underlying “code” of unknown symbols that are clearly not random. It’s described not as some transitory phenomenon, as if it were some hallucination, but rather a fixed and unmoving symbology woven into the fabric of the object it’s projected onto. Take from this what you will and until scientific studies are conducted there’s no real corroboration here, but the experiment has been 100% reproducible with hundreds of participants who all report the exact same results and in cases of multiple participants they are each observing the same exact symbology.

The convergence of many unexplainable phenomenon and the connection to consciousness.

Seeing Beyond the Shadows

One of philosophy’s greatest minds in history was the Greek Philosopher, Plato. In his work, “The Republic”, Plato tells the allegory of the cave. In this tale, he likened us to prisoners who are chained to the wall of a cave only able to see mere shadows, the reflections of real objects that are being moved about for us and intensely controlling what and how we see the world. Having known nothing else, we mistake the shadows for reality. One brave member of the group begins to suspect that there is more to it than what he sees and hatches a plan of escape. The rest of them call him crazy until one day they look over and he has gone. While they were absorbed in the shadows, he is able to get around the wall to see those who cast the projections, then to climb out of the cave, and finally to be amazed at the sight of the sun, the grass, the trees, the vibrant colors.

The newly enlightened captive eagerly returns to his fellow men and excitedly explains to them all of the wonders he has just witnessed. Finding his claims to be so foreign and entirely too fantastical to them, they refuse to believe him and choose to live out their lives in the illusion.

Visual representation of Plato’s Cave.

“Nobody is going to pour truth into your brain. It’s something you have to find out for yourself.”

— Noam Chomsky

It is vital, if we want to get closer to the truth, that we remain open skeptics. Through discernment, and our own intuitions, we can sift through the noise to slowly make our way out of the cave of shadows and into the light of truth. This post is not meant to convince anyone of anything, we should always beware of those who claim to have absolute knowledge of the truth because quite often it’s a method to keep us in chains, content with our shadows of reality so that we do not look further. Instead, we all must seek out for ourselves what is real and what is shadow play.

Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. And stranger things are still to come.

---

REFERENCES

Bem, D. J., & Honorton, C. (1994). Does psi exist? Replicable evidence for an anomalous process of information transfer. Psychological Bulletin, 115(1), 4–18. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.115.1.4

Dickens, K. (Host). (2024). The Telepathy Tapes [Docuseries]. Based on the work of Dr. Diane Hennessy Powell.

→ Scientific exploration into non-verbal autistic children and telepathic phenomena.

Elizondo, L. (2021). ODNI Preliminary Assessment on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

→ https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Prelimary-Assessment-UAP-2021.pdf

Garetano, C. P. (Director). (2015). The Montauk Chronicles [Documentary Film].

→ First-person testimonies of alleged MK-Ultra and Montauk Project activities.

Hoffman, D. D. (2019). The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes. W. W. Norton & Company.

Musk, E. (2016, June). Code Conference Interview. Vox Media.

→ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KK_kzrJPS8

→ Discusses the probability that we’re living in a simul

National Security Archive. (n.d.). MK-Ultra Document Collection. The George Washington University.

→ https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/intelligence/2019-09-10/mkultra-document-collection

Radin, D. (2018). Real Magic: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, and a Guide to the Secret Power of the Universe. Harmony Books.

Strieber, W. (1987). Communion: A True Story. Avon.

Swann, I. (1998). Penetration: The Question of Extraterrestrial and Human Telepathy. Ingo Swann Books.

Talbot, M. (1991). The Holographic Universe. HarperPerennial.

The Discovery. (n.d.). The Discovery. DanGoThou.

→ Blog or media content cited as a reference point for esoteric theories.

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. (n.d.). CIA Reading Room – Project Stargate Archives.

→ https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/collection/stargate

U.S. House of Representatives. (2024). UAP Disclosure Amendment (2024). Congressional Records.

Pasulka, D. (2019). American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology. Oxford University Press.

Bostrom, N. (2003). Are we living in a computer simulation? Philosophical Quarterly, 53(211), 243–255. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9213.00309

Faggin, Frederico (2024). Irreducible: Consciousness, life, computers, and human nature. Essentia Books.

Plato. (2004). The Republic (C. D. C. Reeve, Trans.). Hackett Publishing Company. (Original work published ca. 380 B.C.E.)

PERSPECTIVE

NASA image of Earth taken by Voyager 1 from 3.7 billion miles away as it was speeding out of our solar system

“We are each alotted a sliver of space-time, wedged between not yet and no more.  Which we fill with a lifetime of joys and sorrows; immensities of thought and feeling, all deducible to electrical impulses coursing through us at 80 feet per second, yet responsible for every love poem that has ever been written, every symphony ever composed, every scientific breakthrough measuring out nerve conduction and mapping out space-time. ”

— Maria Popova

The most distant human-made object, Voyager 1, is currently located a whopping 25 billion miles away out in interstellar space, having exited the solar system after a tour of the nearest gas giant planets. A journey lasting 46 years to date. To conceptualize just how far away this probe is from us, communication both to and from Voyager 1 traveling at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second) takes an astounding 22.5 hours each way. Meaning one simple command and response results in a full two day waiting period to complete. During it’s time within the solar system, Voyager sent back some incredible images of our closest planetary neighbors and furthering our understanding of the universe. The resilience of these probes and the fact that they continued to function for so long beyond their anticipated lifetimes is a testament to the craftsmanship of those involved in their creation and has given us much to study and learn from.

Visual representation of the paths taken by Voyager 1 and 2.

Launced in 1977, Voyager 1 (actually launching 16 days after it’s twin, Voyager 2) began a long journey among the planets traveling to Jupiter, Saturn, and studying their moons before going to where no human object has ever gone before. During the celestial tour, the probes sent back amazing photos of the planets giving us new perspectives of our planetary neighborhood. But perhaps the most notable photograph was of something more familiar to us all. On February 17th of 1990, NASA sent one final command to the probe to turn and direct it's cameras towards earth and snap the very first selfie from outer space. This iconic image became known as “The Pale Blue Dot”: as the image shows our entire world as a tiny speck, barely visible, but interestingly caught in a ray of sunlight. Highlighting both the seemingly insignificant position we hold against such an incomprehensibly large universe as well as the fragility and uniqueness we possess against such an immense background, this image is the epitome of what it is to understand the value of perspective.

The Radiolab podcast has done a couple of amazing stories on the Voyager probes, highlighting some of the amazing ingenuity of the brilliant crews who have cared for these stellar explorers and have extended their lives beyond whatever could have been imagined the day they left the launchpad. I highly suggest checking those out - you will definitely develop an admiration and fondness for these technological marvels.

Visual information on Voyager and “The Pale Blue Dot”

As I’ve said many times, and which is so true in all areas of our reality, multiple things can be both true and not true at the same time. Humanity is quite special and we should celebrate our existence and the lives we get the privilege to live out while at the same time being humbled as we gaze out at the night sky at the literal billions of other stars and planets that are out there of which we still know very little about. Check out a previous blog post I did (The Fragility of Certainty) where I discussed the concept of epistemic humility as it definitely applies here as well. Perspective.

All that being said, we should all take a moment from time to time to reflect on what a gift it is just to be alive. As the well-known physicist, Neil Degrass Tyson, pointed out once: of all of the unique arrangements of DNA that have historically existed and that currently do exist, including you and I, the majority of them will never exist. So congratulations, you and I both won the physical lottery and were awarded the rare gift of physical reality! The mere fact of our existence is a rare blessing we’ve been given and our only objective is to explore our talents and learn ways in which we can use our gifts to serve others, which will naturally lead to finding meaning and purpose in the world. The fact that you are alive is proof that you’re needed here at this time for a reason, otherwise you would not exist, plain and simple. Perspective.

Life is difficult and painful, but also all a part of the human experience. When things seem dark and bleak, look for what can be learned from the difficulty rather than being consumed by it. As cliche as it sounds, things will always improve as you gravitate closer towards the things that appeal to your unique nature and act on what you intuit what is in your best interest. Perspective.

I for one am thankful for these perspectives such as The Pale Blue Dot or the Earthrise photos taken from the moon, which provide a perspective which the majority of humanity never got the ability to see. Understanding that we are all in this together, regardless of country of origin or nationality, we are all on this tiny speck on the surface of a tiny sphere living our lives under a razor thin atmosphere, which is the only thing between us and the darkness of space helps reinforce the fact that we are all a part of the human family. We are all connected in such profound ways it makes sense that the most important lesson from the scriptures is to love your neighbor as yourself. Whatever you do to others, you are essentially doing to yourself. The qualities we would like to see others exhibit must first be seen in our own actions. What you give is what you get. Perspective.

MYSTERIOUS MOON

Photo taken March 24, 2024, JPP

“It seems much easier to explain the nonexistence of the moon than its existence.”

— Dr. Robin Brett, NASA

The Moon holds many secrets and mysteries that have captivated the human imagination for centuries. Ancient cultures around the world have myths that speak of a time "before the Moon appeared in the sky," as if one day it simply materialized. At first glance, this seems absurd—but a closer look at the Moon’s unique characteristics compared to other planetary bodies reveals that it truly is an anomaly.

For instance, the Moon is about a quarter the size of Earth—an unusually large ratio for a planet and its satellite. No other known planets in our solar system, nor any observed exoplanets, exhibit this kind of arrangement. This striking size relationship, along with the Moon's specific distance from Earth, is what allows for the phenomenon of total solar eclipses. It also has a near perfect orbit, a little too perfect compared to all other natural satellites we have observed. By sheer coincidence—or perhaps by design—the Moon is almost exactly the right size to completely obscure the Sun during an eclipse, leaving only the glowing corona visible.

“Coincidence and intention are two sides of a tapestry, my Lord. You may find one more agreeable to look at, but you cannot say one is true and the other is false.”

— From "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate by Ted Chiang

During the Apollo missions of the 1960s and '70s, NASA sought to study the Moon's composition by installing seismometers on its surface. On November 20, 1969, scientists deliberately crashed the ascent stage of the Lunar Module to measure the resulting seismic activity. What they discovered was astonishing: the Moon "rang like a bell" for nearly an hour. This unexpected resonance led to speculation about the Moon’s density and interior structure, even fueling theories that it might be at least partially hollow. While many of these theories are highly speculative, the data remains intriguing.

Another curious lunar feature is the shape of its craters. On Earth, impact craters typically form concave depressions, resembling shallow bowls. But on the Moon, many craters have unnaturally flat bottoms, as if the impacting objects could only penetrate to a certain depth before being halted by an impenetrable layer beneath the surface. This raises questions about the Moon's subsurface composition and structure.

Yet another anomaly was discovered in lunar soil samples brought back by Apollo astronauts. The regolith (moon dust) collected from the surface was found to be older than the material beneath it. This contradicts the natural expectation that deeper layers should be older than those on the surface. What could have caused this unusual layering? It remains an open question.

For all of us who aren’t an astronaut who has had the opportunity to study the moon close up, there are strange observables from a distance that continue to this day. Adding to the growing list of lunar oddities, some quick research on “Transient Lunar Phenomena”, presents so many questions with no solid answers. These phenomena are described as short-lived: brightenings of specific areas, darkenings or obscurations, changes in color (sometimes appearing red or violet), and even the appearance of "mists" or "clouds".

These are just a few of the oddities surrounding the Moon—there are many more, some even more perplexing than these. Such mysteries have led to wild theories about the Moon's origins and possible purpose. While some ideas are undoubtedly far-fetched, others point to legitimate questions about the Moon’s history.

“It would seem that the moon is more like a hollow than a homogeneous sphere.”

— Dr. Gordon MacDonald, NASA

One particular mystery, seemingly unrelated at first, eventually led me back to the Moon in an unexpected way. It started with a simple observation about our calendar and has been staring me in the face my whole life and I never even thought about it.

Let’s begin with a question: How many limbs does an octopus have? Eight. Just as an octagon has eight sides. And how many years are in a decade? Ten. These words have Latin roots—"octo" means eight, "novem" means nine, and "decem" means ten. So why, then, are October, November, and December the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth months of our calendar, rather than the eighth, ninth, and tenth?

The answer, as I discovered, is rather uninspiring—it has to do with tax collection schedules in ancient Rome and later calendar reforms. Many of our months are named for Roman figures (March for Mars, July for Julius Caesar, August for Augustus), yet this seemingly arbitrary shift in numerical alignment has persisted for centuries.

This discrepancy led me to research what kind of calendar might have existed before the Roman modifications. That’s when I stumbled upon the lunar calendar, and suddenly, everything clicked.

The lunar calendar is based on Moon cycles and follows a 13-month system instead of 12. If you divide 365 days by 13 months, you get 28 days per month, making each month equal in length. Even more remarkably, this system aligns with natural rhythms—each date would always fall on the same day of the week every month (e.g., the 10th of every month would always be a Tuesday).

This system also accounts for the "missing" day—364 days fit perfectly into 13 months, leaving a single "day out of time" to celebrate the New Year. Interestingly, this aligns with the natural world as well—certain species, like turtles, exhibit this pattern. An adult turtle’s shell often has 13 large plates (scutes) on its back, surrounded by 28 smaller ones, mirroring the lunar cycle in nature.

“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”

— Buddha

The deeper I delved, the more it became apparent that the Moon has been a quiet but ever-present influence over timekeeping, mythologies, and even life itself. Whether by chance or by some greater design, its existence shapes our world in ways we are only beginning to comprehend.

Perhaps the Moon is not just a passive celestial body orbiting our planet. Maybe it is a key—a silent guardian of knowledge, waiting for us to decipher its riddles.

Photos taken a year apart at the Gulf and at the Great Lakes of a full moon over the water.

THE LAW OF THE LAND

One of the most common arguments for using the Bible as a moral foundation is that without a set standard of rules, society would spiral into chaos. Without biblical principles of right and wrong woven into our foundations, we would supposedly be incapable of treating one another with respect—leading us down a path of anarchy.

At first glance, this seems reasonable. Laws and rules help govern behavior, and enforcement mechanisms exist to deter those who stray. Even with such safeguards, crimes are still committed, so removing these constraints might unleash the worst in human nature.

However, this argument assumes that morality, as we understand it, is inseparable from religious doctrine. It fails to consider that our perception of morality has been shaped by a singular historical lens.

Our founding fathers, being of European descent, inherited a worldview built on hierarchical class structures, noble rulers, and a deeply entrenched religious institution that influenced both law and governance. Though they fought against British rule, they did not entirely abandon these structures. Instead, they selectively dismantled aspects they disliked while preserving much of the old order. Completely starting from scratch was likely beyond consideration—not only due to the monumental challenge it posed but because they knew no other way.

Or did they?

The Blind Spot of Self-Righteousness

From the very beginning, America has struggled with self-righteousness. Early citizens failed to recognize the hypocrisy of fighting an oppressive regime while simultaneously forcing enslaved people and Indigenous communities to join their cause—whether by coercion or by force. The prevailing assumption was that these so-called "savages" had nothing of value to offer. Their ways were seen as primitive, and assimilation into European culture was framed as benevolent.

This pious ignorance came at a devastating cost. Entire societies, thriving in their own right, were erased by a people who believed themselves to be acting in accordance with divine will.

Take Christopher Columbus—the man often credited with "discovering" America, despite arriving on an already-inhabited continent. His own writings reveal the disturbing mindset with which he approached the Indigenous people he encountered:

“They … brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks’ bells. They willingly traded everything they owned… . They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features…. They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane… . They would make fine servants…. With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”

Here, we see people demonstrating generosity, cooperation, and trust—values that closely align with Christian teachings—yet it is the so-called "civilized" men who immediately seek to dominate, exploit, and enslave.

Some may argue that Columbus and his men acted outside biblical principles, that such atrocities were not in alignment with scripture. But history tells a different story.

Bartolomé de las Casas, a priest who accompanied Columbus during the conquest of Cuba, bore witness to the horrific cruelty inflicted upon the native population:

“And the Christians, with their horses and swords and pikes began to carry out massacres and strange cruelties against them... They laid bets as to who, with one stroke of the sword, could split a man in two or could cut off his head or spill out his entrails... They took infants from their mothers’ breasts, snatching them by the legs and pitching them headfirst against the crags... They usually dealt with the chieftains and nobles in the following way: they made a grid of rods which they placed on forked sticks, then lashed the victims to the grid and lighted a smoldering fire underneath, so that little by little, as those captives screamed in despair and torment, their souls would leave them….”

It would be comforting to dismiss this as a relic of the past. Yet history repeats itself. The process of villainizing entire cultures or people groups continues today. When we adopt an "us vs. them" mentality—viewing others as inherently inferior—we pave the way for unspeakable acts, justified by self-righteous conviction.

If you find yourself generalizing an entire group—whether by race, religion, culture, or nationality—pause for a moment. Consider how you would feel if your own identity was reduced to a list of negative traits, assumed to define you simply because of the group to which you belong.

What If There Was Another Way?

While European settlers sought to impose their version of civilization, they overlooked the sophisticated social structures that already existed among Indigenous communities.

Take, for example, the Iroquois Confederacy. Children in Iroquois society were raised with a balance of community solidarity and personal autonomy. They were taught respect for their heritage but were also encouraged to think independently. Status was shared, and possessions were communal. Harsh punishment was rare; instead of beatings or forced submission, children were guided toward self-discipline.

This contrasted sharply with the rigid European structures of wealth, power, and religious authority. Colonial society was built on hierarchy—rich and poor, ruler and subject, priest and parishioner. Consider the advice given by John Robinson, pastor of the Pilgrim colony:

“And surely there is in all children ... a stubbornness, and stoutness of mind arising from natural pride, which must, in the first place, be broken and beaten down; that so the foundation of their education being laid in humility and tractableness, other virtues may, in their time, be built thereon.”

By contrast, the Iroquois maintained social order without judges, jails, or police forces. As historian Gary Nash describes:

“No laws and ordinances, sheriffs and constables, judges and juries, or courts or jails—the apparatus of authority in European societies—were to be found in the northeast woodlands prior to European arrival. Yet boundaries of acceptable behavior were firmly set… He who stole another's food or acted invalorously in war was ‘shamed’ by his people and ostracized from their company until he had atoned for his actions and demonstrated to their satisfaction that he had morally purified himself.”

This system fostered both accountability and harmony—without the need for oppressive authority. It begs the question: do we truly need religious texts to govern our morality? Or do we, as human beings, possess an innate capacity for love, empathy, and fairness?

The Danger of Misinterpretation

Ancient scriptures do not hold all the answers—especially when they are filtered through the lens of modern biases. People continuously reinterpret these texts to fit their worldview, often bending them to justify power, oppression, and violence. Without fully understanding the historical context in which they were written, we risk not only misinterpretation but also the continued justification of cruelty in the name of righteousness.

Hans Koning, in Columbus: His Enterprise, encapsulates the lasting consequences of this misalignment:

“For all the gold and silver stolen and shipped to Spain did not make the Spanish people richer. It gave their kings an edge in the balance of power for a time... but all that was left was a deadly inflation, a starving population, the rich richer, the poor poorer, and a ruined peasant class.”

And yet, centuries later, we still see the same patterns unfolding. Wealth and power continue to consolidate at the top, while those in control stoke division among the masses.

If we cannot learn from history—if we continue justifying harm under the guise of divine mandate—then we risk repeating the same cycle of destruction. Only through self-reflection, empathy, and the willingness to understand others can we hope to break free.

We do not need ancient scriptures to teach us how to be good. What we need is the courage to seek understanding. Only then can we finally fulfill the promise of a just and compassionate society.

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*From “American Origin Stories” by Matthew Cooke: https://www.youtube.com/@MatthewCookeOfficial

THE FRAGILITY OF CERTAINTY

“Nobody is going to pour truth into your brain. It’s something you have to find out for yourself.”

— Noam Chomsky

ORDERING CHAOS

Life, at its core, is absurd and chaotic. Paradoxically, the only thing that is certain in this life, is that change is inevitable.  The more we explore the regions of the micro within the quantum realm, the more discoveries that are uncovered that are puzzling and often contradictory.  For many centuries, religion has sought to provide order amid this chaos, by explaining the unexplainable in ways we can grasp and attempt to organize our lives in some way.  However, the truth is often far stranger than fiction and cracks inevitably form in any system that tries to organize what is inherently disordered.

During the Scientific Revolution, the validity of the Bible as an ultimate source of truth came under scrutiny. Confronted with the realization of a dwindling flock, and in response to the growing dissonance between the scriptures and the science, theologians crafted doctrines such as “inerrancy” of the scriptures to defend their institutions. This birthed dogmas like the 6,000-year-old Earth, the literal worldwide flood, and the future-oriented interpretation of Revelation—all relatively modern constructs.

Even today, the idea of scriptural inerrancy is complicated by discoveries like the Dead Sea Scrolls, which although they support the historical existence of the scriptures, they also reveal discrepancies in translations and contextual meanings across centuries. But what happens if we take these scriptures at face value?

The Biblical mandate to “go forth and make disciples of all nations” is a core belief and mandate to many practitioners.  So, let’s follow this scenario to its ultimate conclusion.  Imagine if tomorrow, every soul on Earth embraced Christianity. Would this create heaven on Earth? A paradise of unified beliefs?

• Imagine if suddenly, everyone begins practicing speaking in tongues. [This is where the Baptists would say: “Well wait a minute, we don’t believe in it that way.”]

• Okay, well then there will be wonderful Men and women who will lead churches together. [The Fundamentalists will say “Not so fast!”]

• Worship will be conducted from heavenly choruses and adorned with heavenly instruments. [The Church of God speaks up “Worship is to be created with the human voice, never by instrument.”

• I see, well then we have many giving reverence to Mary. [Evangelicals will say: “We are not Catholic and only Jesus should be worshipped.”]

• Confessionals begin popping up everywhere. [Protestants shout: “Whoa, wait just a minute!”]

• Joseph Smith appears. [Everyone except Mormons: “Hold up, who?!”]

If even the promise of universal religion cannot bring heaven to Earth, what assurance do we have that heaven itself will be harmonious? The fractures we create here reflect the fractures within us.

“Thinking is difficult. That’s why most people judge.”

— Carl Jung

THE CALL TO THINK CRITICALLY

I once believed religion provided the best explanation for our existence—until I realized it often discourages deeper exploration. By checking into religion, many of us check out of curiosity.

The truth, however, will never force itself upon us. It must be sought, unraveled, and lived.  This is what gives life its zest.  “The joy is in the journey” as they say.  And while religion may pervade our society in a multitude of ways, open-mindedness is the key to understanding ideas that initially feel strange or even absurd.

This doesn’t mean discarding religion entirely. There is truth within its stories. Just as the Dead Sea Scrolls confirm the historic existence of the scriptures, third party historical evidence affirms that Jesus was a real person who walked the Earth and preached, as documented by contemporaries at the time. Likewise, however, just as the Dead Sea scrolls present us with obvious contextual differences in the content or meaning of the narratives over the centuries, the message that Jesus was actually trying to bring to us is a question we must ask ourselves. 

Polarization is the enemy. More than one thing can be true at the same time. Conversely, more than one thing can be false. The most meaningful and impactful aspects of life are far too complex to be expressed in this or that scenarios. It’s important to not disregard entirely or adopt with unwavering certainty such philosophies that cannot be comprehensively proven or disproven.

“Every moment of one’s existence, one is growing into more or retreating into less.”

— Norman Mailer

A HUMBLE PERSPECTIVE

Allow me to provide a brief vocabulary lesson, which I hope will stick with you and reveal some new words that I think describe concepts in a beautiful and meaningful way:

• Epistemic: Relating to knowledge and its validation.

• Humility: The freedom from pride and arrogance.

Epistemic Humility, then,  is the understanding that our experiences are limited, and our knowledge is filtered through our experiences.  It is the willingness to admit that we may be wrong and not know everything. It recognizes the inherent complexity of the world and the intricate interplay of various factors that shape our understanding of it. Together, they remind us that our understanding is shaped by our limited experiences. The willingness to admit we don’t know everything is not a weakness but a strength.

• Umwelt: German, referring to something’s surroundings or environment.

There is a beautiful word in the German language that describes a concept that we have no English word for.  Umwelt, (oom-velt) meaning “environment,” describes how each species perceives the world through its unique sensory and perceptual systems.

Notice the seemingly speedy movements of a mouse or a bird.  They seem to move through life at such a high speed to us.  But from their perspective, this would be a normal pace.  A bird may see humans as slow-moving curiosities, while a tortoise might view us as frenetic blurs.

Similarly, each human life is a tapestry woven from individual perspectives and backgrounds. Our differences should not divide us but enrich us. The world is not black-and-white; it is a kaleidoscope of experiences.

“If you’re not growing, you’re dying.”

— Anonymous

BRAVE VULNERABILITY

To seek truth is to embrace complexity and confront uncertainty. Yet, our modern world is increasingly shaped by polarization—a dangerous force that thrives on certainty and the rejection of nuance.

Religious dogmas, when introduced into governance, risk turning faith into legislation and morality into mandate. History warns us that when one worldview seeks to dominate, diversity of thought suffers. This is not just about religious belief; it’s about how rigid ideologies erode the foundation of a free, pluralistic society.  One must ask themselves when faced with such ideologies:  who stands to benefit or prosper from the successful instillation of such beliefs?  And who stands to potentially suffer loss from the same? 

When beliefs become weapons, wielded to shape laws that govern all, we lose the ability to celebrate differences and instead foster division. The promise of truth is not in conformity but in coexistence.

We must remember: no one holds the ultimate monopoly on truth. Epistemic humility teaches us that our perspectives are limited, and our experiences, no matter how profound, are but a fragment of the greater whole. It is only through dialogue, understanding, and the willingness to admit we might be wrong that we can hope to bridge the growing chasms between us.

Our shared humanity demands that we find common ground—not by forcing others to believe as we do but by respecting their right to seek truth in their own way.  Our understanding of the processes and landscape of the fabric that undergirds our reality is not static; it continually evolves as we learn more and are able to test our theories against what is known.  But even in areas that we are certain are truthful, we must avoid the instinct to instantly scoff at hypothesis’ that contradict our understanding.  The seeds of horrific cruelties can begin to sprout at the point from which we cease to listen to and empathize with others.  Practicing discernment, while humbly providing space to learn and grow from individuals with credible counter-positions is what creates meaningful dialogue and intelligent societies. 

The nature of these turbulent times requires us to stop the rhetoric and pause for a moment to allow conversation and understanding to flourish.  In the days and years ahead, let us choose curiosity over dogma, empathy over judgment, and unity over division. The future of our society depends on it.

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Reference for further evaluation:

Abegg, Flint, & Ulrich. (1999). The Dead Sea Scroll Bible. Harper Collins.

LIGHT AND TIME

We are creatures of light bound by time.

VOTE

“Men do not go into administration as the direct Road to Heaven.” Instead, they are moved by self-love, and therefore “the only Way to secure the most virtuous is by making it their Interest to act rightly.”

-Gouverneur Morris

Do you know who actually penned the Constitution? The final verbiage was decided upon by the Constitutional Convention, but the man who actually put pen to paper and drafted those famous words beginning with "We the People" is someone you've probably not heard of before. Governeur Morris (known as the "Penman of the Constitution"), has a very interesting story which I highly recommend learning more about him. It is often the hidden figures of history that seem to make the most meaningful impact and it's their obscurity that speaks to a character that does not seek notoriety but instead strives to ensure the greatest outcome for the common good.

DIVINE ORCHESTRATION

“Coincidence and intention are two sides of a tapestry, my lord.  You may find one more agreeable to look at, but you cannot say one is true and the other is false.”

— -from The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate by Ted Chang

There are moments in our lives when things happen that defy any logical explanation. Although I think these moments are more frequent than we think, they are often overlooked, unless one is acutely tuned in to spotting them.   A sort of divine orchestration that, once recognized can leave you crying and laughing at the same time in your car possibly coming across to those in your peripheral like some crazy person, but because you are so amazed at the serendipity you haven’t the slightest care about any such appearances.  This is, in fact, an intentional oddly specific description because it was literally me today.

I had recently became so frustrated at a particular circumstance I was dealing with that when the latest manifestation of this plight occurred in the preceding weeks I found myself screaming out loud at no one in particular asking “why is this happening to me?!?”  Now, I’m intelligent enough to recognize when difficult things happen there is usually some underlying reason or lesson we are supposed to learn from it.  But in this case I hadn’t the slightest idea why this was happening.  And there was and still is nothing I can do about it.  It’s a hopeless and depressing situation and further not recognizing why it is that it’s happening adds an additional layer that makes it seem pointless and therefore had me screaming into the “void”.   The parenthetical void meaning I was not directing at anyone or any thing but I would soon realize that “void” was listening nonetheless.

It wasn’t long before an answer was provided:  clear as day and without question.  In such a random way that I’m still reeling from the implications.  A chance encounter that was most likely never to occur but still did.  An outside third party intervention that ensured the subsequent chain of events would indeed come to pass.  And another’s similar but also very recent personal revelations and their graciousness to share transparently left me speechless.

The answer to my question was not an easy one.  And will require a lot of meditation and introspection on my part.  But it was given to me by another, for lack of a better phrase, “on a silver platter”.   And because of that method of delivery, and the orchestration it took to get it there, it has been received loud and clear.

All of this of course, including even my unintentional blindness to this personal self realization was not coincidental at all.  Had these things not happened as they did, I would have not arrived at this point today where I am laugh/crying like a mad person and in complete awe and deep gratitude for such an orchestration to have occurred on my behalf.   

This lesson I share with all:  don’t allow the minutia of daily life to obscure the fact that we all have profound roles to play as we constructively weave together this tapestry of life.  And although we cannot see the completed picture from this side of things down in the trenches, the more we tune in to the process and lean into the things that make us unique, the more we are allowed to see just how beautiful of a work of art we are co-creating together.  And this thing we are putting together has to be something of profound beauty because just a small glimpse can leave you a puddle of emotions:  looking like you just stepped out of the mental facility.  Which, if such a prerequisite is required to arrive here, then please check me in because I would not hesitate to endure it for such a small glimpse behind the proverbial curtain that I’ve just witnessed and am eternally grateful for

THE LEAST OF THESE

When confronting a decision, where the direction isn’t clear; or deciding a course of action where the outcome is unknown:  always err on the side of empathy.

Instead of envisioning things as they may play out sequentially, try looking at it from the other side (as best as is ascertainable):  from the end backwards.  Because regardless of the minutiae, choosing the path that expresses the greatest positive influence and grace towards others will always be the right decision.

This includes placing dogma over compassion or law over mercy.  You have been released from the burden of judgment, therefore your focus should be placed on grace and seeking to understand.

None of us have all the answers, so all should be humble.  The act of listening to understand, opposed to hearing to respond might just surprise you with gaining a profound new insight you hadn’t considered before.

And when all is said and done, the last stars have shed their final light and the record of humanity has been finished, being remembered as someone who truly sought to improve the plight of their fellow man is objectively a much greater testimonial than one who furthered anguish by placing an interpretation of law above seeking to understand another’s lived experience.

WHAT IS NOW?

Retrocausality:  a concept of cause and effect in which an effect precedes its cause in time and so a later event affects an earlier one.  In quantum physics, the distinction between cause and effect is not made at the most fundamental level and so time-symmetric systems can be viewed as causal or retrocausal. [1]

Even though we cannot access memories of the future, the future does exert a sort of gravitational pull upon us.  It’s a weak force, not a solid state as the past becomes for us.  We have complete freedom in the present to choose what our next move will be, but there is a sort of leaning towards or perhaps an intuition that influences and shapes our decision making.

It has been scientifically demonstrated that our brains arrive at a decision a micro second prior to us making a choice.  We are all in a sense exhibiting precognition all the time.

Published in the prestigious Nature journal, an experiment carried out in the Future Minds Lab at UNSW School of Psychology showed that free choices about what to think can be predicted from patterns of brain activity 11 seconds before people consciously chose what to think about.

The experiment consisted of asking people to freely choose between two visual patterns of red and green stripes – one of them running horizontally, the other vertically – before consciously imagining them while being observed in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine.

The participants were also asked to rate how strongly they felt their visualisations of the patterns were after choosing them, again while researchers recorded their brain activity during the process.

Not only could the researchers predict which pattern they would choose, they could also predict how strongly the participants were to rate their visualisations. With the assistance of machine learning, the researchers were successful at making above-chance predictions of the participants’ volitional choices at an average of 11 seconds before the thoughts became conscious.

The brain areas that revealed information about the future choices were located in executive areas of the brain – where our conscious decision-making is made – as well as visual and subcortical structures, suggesting an extended network of areas responsible for the birth of thoughts.

Lab director Professor Joel Pearson believes what could be happening in the brain is that we may have thoughts on ‘standby’ based on previous brain activity, which then influences the final decision without us being aware.

“We believe that when we are faced with the choice between two or more options of what to think about, non-conscious traces of the thoughts are there already, a bit like unconscious hallucinations,” Professor Joel Pearson of UNSW says. [2]

This experiment shows that there is some sort of substance to the future than just a complete unknown. In fact if you examine the universe and how we observe distant objects, according to the block universe theory, at vast distances and depending on the direction of travel towards or away from an object, we are looking at either that object’s past or we are observing that object’s future.  The past, present, and future are all real.  If the future is observable across the universe then one observing our universe can also see our very real past or very real future.

One of the greatest changes in my life was a result of such a force.  This pull seemed to always be there waiting just under the surface, but became so intense of a pull that resistance towards it would only strengthen its gravitational force upon me and I felt as though I would eventually be crushed by it.  For many years after, what I thought was the reason for the seemingly abrupt change turned out to only be an instrument through which the real reason for the course correction could accomplish its ultimate goal.  For that powerful tsunami has receded back into the ocean and has not near the effect upon me anymore.  But as the wave receded, it becomes clearer more and more that it was about so much more than I ever thought possible.

New discoveries are constantly changing our perceptions of what is real.  And a lot of times they reveal something completely outside of our expectations.

Anthropomorphizing everything does not always reveal objective truths.  We are repeatedly reminded of our limited frame of reference.  And when it comes to time, the way time behaves versus the way we think about it, can be disorienting.

Knowing that there is a real future and that we all access it in small ways unknowingly is further evidence that the future can indeed have influence over the present.

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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrocausality.

[2] https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2019/03/our-brains-reveal-our-choices-before-were-even-aware-of-them--st

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RECOMMENDED READING:

THE MERCHANT AND THE ALCHEMIST’S GATE BY TED CHIANG

“The story I have to tell is truly a strange one, and were the entirety to be tattooed at the corner of one’s eye, the marvel of its presentation would not exceed that of the events recounted, for it is a warning to those who would be warned and a lesson to those who would learn. ”

— The Merchant

"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" is a fantasy novelette by American writer Ted Chiang, originally published in 2007 by Subterranean Press and reprinted in the September 2007 issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction. In 2019, the novelette was included in the collection of short stories Exhalation: Stories.

A Baghdad merchant encounters a mysterious alchemist who claims to have invented a device that can transport him across time and space. But what is the true nature of this marvelous invention, and what are its consequences?

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ETHEREAL

Second video from the album, “Portals”.  

“I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness.”

— Henry David Thoreau, Walden (323- 324)